User blog:Nkstjoa/Nkstjoa's Season 2 and 3 Lookback
Introduction It seems like ages ago since I completed my very first season, starting off with Scorpion vs. Ryu being super-rushed to completion before the actual episode and concluding with my take on Hulk vs. Doomsday about a year before Death Battle announced the match-up. So when it come to writing out the recap of Season 1, it wasn't terribly difficult due to most of the writing having been done over the course of a little over a year. Then that brings us to Season 2... It was intended to be the finale of the series, but I kept holding off on it until I found a few other match-ups I wanted to cover and ended up scrapping the intended finale for Season 2 and moving on to a Mini-Season 3. And now that it's all said and done, it's especially tricky just trying to piece together everything from a ton of battles that I wrote a very, very long time ago (some as long as two years ago). Nonetheless, I'll give out my thoughts on every battle I've done since Hulk vs. Doomsday. Trying to do it all at once isn't working for me, so instead, I'll discuss one each day at a time, starting with Batman vs Solid Snake and going from there. Season 2 Lookback Batman vs Solid Snake *'Completion Date: April 3rd, 2016' *'Words: 4,873' *'Comments: 20 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= I had seen this match-up, which was created by Maxevil, on the Wiki for some time, then began to wonder how I could go about a battle of stealth experts. So a year and two days after Maxevil completed his version, I finally went and did just that to start off my second season. A battle in a snowy mountain base in Alaska where Batman and Solid Snake, as well as their support, is pushed to the brink, and the final bout is guaranteed to bring feels. |-| Spoiler= I'd experienced the entire series with Solid Snake and as much as I knew him and Otacon wouldn't make things easier for Batman and Oracle, I came to the conclusion that neither could best the other. Oracle has aided the Justice League with just her computer skills alone, and even if Otacon could match or surpass her hacking abilities, by the time he would, it would be too late for him to save Snake. When it came to weapons and armor, it was the same deal. Snake's OctoCamo suit could give Batman some trouble, but Batman would be able to find it while his armor was not only nearly impossible for even the Solid Eye to find, but far more superior in durability. Writing out the ending wasn't easy, as I knew Snake would never give up even with a broken arm due to making the impossible possible, but it was all the more tragic due to Otacon being unable to do a thing on his end and Batman having no choice but to break his sworn oath. Figure the least you can do is have your victor pay their respects to the defeated. Trivia: *The battle was started and completed around the time I had played and beaten Batman: Arkham Knight (my least favorite story-wise, but still plays great). *I tied the story into Solid Snake VS Sam Fisher, with the flashdrive from that episode leading Snake to the Alaskan military base. *Batman moving left and right to avoid Snake's rifle fire while charging at him was taken from Batman performing the same against one of Bane's goons in The Dark Knight Rises. *Batman getting beaten while his triangulating imaging system was acting up was taken from the Joker doing the same to Batman in The Dark Knight. *I had planned to have a part where Batman fired his grappling hook at a crate, then threw it at Snake similar to how he had done the same to a henchman in Batman v Superman, but I never got around to adding it. *Originally, I had forgotten that Mk II was destroyed in Metal Gear Solid 4, so later, I corrected it to Mk. III. *Snake's skin around his right eye being bruised instead of his left was a partial mistake of mine regarding when Snake had part of his face burned after Chapter III of Metal Gear Solid 4. *Batman taking off his mask to better face Snake was actually intended by me even before a similar event occurred in (spoiler). *This was the first time I had a winning character actually mourning over what they had done (not counting Electro vs. Cole MacGrath's alternate ending). **Commander Ghost once told me that the combination of Otacon's pleaing, Snake's struggle, and Batman breaking his code made it one of the saddest endings on this Wiki. *Beautiful Lie from Batman v Superman was added to the results later down the line as I felt the song really suited the bittersweet victory at the end. *This was the first battle where I used a Next Time, which I had never done in any of my season 1 battles. Raven (Tekken) vs. Crimson Viper *'Completion Date: May 6, 2016' *'Words: 3,248' *'Comments: 13' Non-Spoiler= I had wanted to use another Tekken character, but also wanted to mix it up from the usual Mishima's, so I went with Tekken's premiere ninja/secret agent Raven. For his opponent, I sought out a similar theme of "fighting game secret agents who can hold their own against the best" and Crimson Viper more than filled that bill. Deep in S.I.N.'s secret base, with one agent aiming to bring down the base by force and the other to obtain information for her employers, Raven and Crimson Viper refuse to allow either combatant to interfere and go for the kill. |-| Spoiler= Raven's feats of standing up to Heihachi, throwing NANCY around and cutting off one of its arms definitely cemented Raven as far stronger than the average human. Crimson Viper, on the other hand, was entirely reliant on her suit's gadgets, meaning a well-placed slash could potentially rob her of her weapons. In regards to mobility, C. Viper's flight via jet boots did give her the speed and mobility advantage, but it wasn't guaranteed success against a ninja warrior with greater natural speed and ninja agility. Meaning she could fly by for an attack, but Raven could very well avoid or even defend against it. C. Viper's gear may have held her own against the likes of Chun-Li, but she never managed to truly beat the likes of Ryu or the main cast. Raven simply soared above with his all-natural talent and cutting power. Trivia: *I added music for the character sections later after completion. *Most of Crimson Viper's dialogue was ripped from Street Fighter IV and Raven's from Tekken and Street Fighter X Tekken. *I might have made an error in regards to how Raven's cloaking device works with his teleporting, though I don't feel it would have altered the outcome. *Raven's shuriken isn't quite a canon weapon: it was an item weapon in Tekken 6 and used in Street Fighter X Tekken. Granted, him having or not having a projectile still wouldn't have likely changed the outcome. *Crimson Viper's death was inspired by Raven cutting a Jack-4 in two in the intro of Tekken 5. *This is the first (and so far only) battle where I had a prequel to the next battle after the results. Ryu vs Kazuya Mishima *'Completion Date: May 27, 2016' *'3,744 words' *'Comments: 16 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= I had used Ryu two times prior, both for my very first episode and four battles after that. But after looking back at Street Fighter X Tekken, where Ryu and Kazuya were rivals as opposed to Ryu and Jin, I actually saw not similarities, but opposites between them: one trying to rise above his demons and the other one with them. Building off of my prequel after Raven vs. Crimson Viper, Kazuya came looking for a fighter with the Satsui no Hado to regain his former power. Dan Hibiki and Sakura were already down and out by the time Ryu arrived on the scene, leaving them in a martial artist duel for the ages. |-| Spoiler= Kazuya had strength, durability, electricity-powered punches, and demonic power, but for Ryu, it was either nothing new to him or it was something he was equipped to combat. And this was a point I had entirely forgotten to mention way back: experience. It's tempting to say that Kazuya has the better experience due to fighting since his youth, but then you'd have to account for him being in G Corporation labs for 20 years. Ryu fought in his youth, then never stopped; Kazuya had decades to himself with maybe little more than a training dummy. Even given his full Devil Gene, the Power of Nothingness was the perfect counter to it: a counter against a pure evil man. Trivia: *This was my first and only battle that had a prologue for it after the previous battle. *Nearly all of Kazuya's lines were taken from his dialogue in Street Fighter X Tekken. *While initially opposed to it, I decided to include Kazuya's Devil form from Blood Vengeance near the end, even if primarily to give the Power of Nothingness a run for its money. **Funnily enough, most of the music pieces I added were from Tekken: Blood Vengeance. *Shadow7615 suggested Devil May Cry 4 - Sworn Through Swords to start off the battle. *I have since played Tekken 7 and honestly couldn't tell you who wins this match-up now. Max Payne vs. Nathan Drake *'Completion Date: July 7, 2016' *'Words: 4,904' *'Comments: 3' Non-Spoiler= For the longest time, I had wanted to utilize my Nathan Drake knowledge for a Death Battle, but it wasn't until Max Payne that I found a halfway decent theme for them: video game humans who are far from "average humans" and with ridiculously high body counts. One searching for answers to a case, the other seeking a treasure, and one case of mistaken intentions turned into a full-on firefight. |-| Spoiler= Max Payne is a beast of a human. His pension for blinding head shots made him the toughest opponent Nathan's ever faced, and one that he couldn't conquer. Nate's pretty tough himself, but even then, he's yet to survive a direct head shot. Max Payne has and with Bullet Time, he might not even need to do so. Even with Drake undoubtedly having a faster reaction speed than the average human, Max being able to jump out windows and take out that many foes in the span of seconds during the fall was simply far faster a speed than any Nate has ever combated. There was also a small, but subtle difference between their exploits. Nathan Drake had faced large groups of enemies time and time again, but a majority of the time, they were all on a field of battle none of them knew the layout of. Max, on the other hand, spends nearly all his fights against foes who know the area inside and out, and far more often could take them on entirely on his own without help, whereas even Nathan couldn't take on literal armies by himself single-handedly. Drake went out like a champ, no doubt, but even with all his experience traversing uncharted lands, it was the former detective and father of video game Bullet Time that finally managed to put an end to his luck with his very own. Trivia: *I had forgotten to include Max's automatic shotgun in the battle, though I don't feel its exclusion changed anything regarding the outcome. *This fight had my third-longest pre-fight, and admittedly in retrospect one that probably takes too long to set things up. *I had tried mimicking Max's inner-monologue from Max Payne 3, though I couldn't tell you if I did him justice. *The deja vu Max Payne was feeling when Nathan was using a grenade launcher and shield was taken directly from a boss fight towards the end of Max Payne 3. *Drake swinging forward on his grappling hook, then swinging back into Max's vehicle's front seat before saying "I thought that branch was closer" was inspired by Indiana Jones performing the same in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. *One of my favorite things to write was the running gag of Max shooting Nathan's guns out of his hands. *Part of me considered having Nathan Drake surviving the fall down the waterfall and grabbing onto a rock to save himself, but I ultimately went with it being a fake-out and him being deceased at the battle's end. Spinal vs. Cervantes *'Completion Date: November 19, 2016' *'3,303 words' *'Comments: 4' Non-Spoiler= This was one I had wanted to tackle for some time: a duel between the two most famous undead pirates of the fighting genre. But with my lack of any background in Killer Instinct lore, I was out of luck. With the thanks of RoaringRexe, who rose to the occassion to give me all the info I needed for Spinal, I could finally fulfil this long-sought battle. In a secret pirate cave, the two pirates who returned from death came sword-to-sword over who would take the treasure home. |-| Spoiler= Cervantes had the better swords, had a near-unstoppable offense, and a bit of Soul Edge's power at his disposal, but Spinal's magical shield was something he couldn't cope with easily. Even when getting around the shield, Cervantes had to deal with Spinal's much skinnier frame, which even then has taken hits from some of Killer Instinct's heaviest hitters. But the real nail in Cervantes' coffin was Spinal's curses, which he had no canonical defenses against. He had a chance against Spinal, but the moment the curses started landing, Cervantes was finished. Trivia: *The underground cave was intended to be based on a similar stage from Soulcalibur II. *I threw in a buckler shield for Spinal due to wanting to throw back to his original shield and No Mercy. *I had music for Cervantes' section and the battle, but then I added music to Spinal some time afterward (guess I'm a tad bias towards Soulcalibur regarding music). *For a change, I had Cervantes pulling a Combo Breaker on a Killer Instinct character instead of the other way around. *Spinal getting his arm cut off by Cervantes was done as a minor reference to Guts VS Nightmare. *This music cue towards the end of the battle was one of my favorite music cues. I'd always wanted to include a music piece from Mega Man X: Command Mission. Homer Simpson vs Peter Griffin *'Completion Date: December 17, 2016' *'4,966 words' *'Comments: 20 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= For the longest time, I was basically dead-set on not doing any battles with any cartoon characters because "they're super-inconsistent and cartoon physics don't mesh with Death Battle." But here, I found an exception where I actually found both could be measured somewhat... And y'know, two of the biggest dumb guy dads in cartoon history. How could I refuse? After going through every effort to ensure it didn't mimic or repeat things from their official crossover episode, I had a punch-out in a bar escalate into a high-stakes battlefield-hopping adventure. |-| Spoiler= On the surface, you could make the argument that both are cartoon characters, both have shown ridiculous durability, and neither are going anywhere in their respected shows. In other words: a tie, a draw. But here was the catch: Homer's shown high durability before, but in several episodes had his life-threatening scenarios where he needed help from friends and family to survive. Peter has evolved to such a point that he may as well be a pure cartoon, be it all of his chicken fights or even regrowing a limb while traveling from Point A to Point B. One note I forgot to touch on: yes, Homer's Treehouse of Horror episodes did grant him crazy feats, abilities, and such, but in TOH, it's pretty much an excuse to do whatever with the characters and their world because it's outside the physics of the actual Simpson world. Even with the Family Guy world being relatively in the real world like the Simpsons is, Peter's defied his world's realism time and time again. Trivia: *Homer and Peter riding motorcycles and jumping off of them into each other was taken from the infamous scene from Mission Impossible 2. *While I made sure it didn't rip off anything from the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover episode, I did have two minor references: **Stewie and Bart referring to the former wanting to be the latter's friend, making it my one reference to that episode. **Homer opening his eyes and appearing angry even after his seeming death. *Two of the time periods Homer and Peter traveled to made references to the Family Guy world: **Before time itself, where the universe was created after God lit a fart on fire with a lighter. **In a seemingly futuristic city, which turned out to be ancient Ireland before the discovery of alcohol. *This was the first time I had combatants physically cross over with an actual Death Battle, with Homer and Peter seeing Darth Vader and Doctor Doom's battle in the prehistoric age. *Homer saying "Where are we? Colorado?" when in the Ice Age was a reference towards South Park. *I based Homer's in-battle strategy after losing the crayon in his brain off of Sherlock Holmes' in-battle pre-planning. *Peter took Homer's "I'll mace you good" line from a Simpsons episode. *Retep made an appearance after Peter had his hand cut off by Homer, having grown from Peter's cut off hand. *The King's mannerisms upon hearing and seeing the battering ram coming at him was a reference to King Harkinian from Zelda CD-i. X vs. Zero *'Completion Date: December 24, 2016' *'3,688 words' *'Comments: 21' Non-Spoiler= They'd been partners and best friends for years, but between the final creations of Dr. Light and Wily, there was the one unavoidable question: who would kill the other? Never got that in the X series due to the event always being averted or any battles between them cut short before things could get fatal. As such, there was never a definitive answer. That's where I figured "Ah, what the hey, I'll give it a shot". With all their friendship put aside and only their memories and instincts intact, the two besties became the worst of enemies like their creators before them. |-| Spoiler= There was no question that Zero wasn't about to best X in a fire fight, as X just had the far greater ranged arsenal. Then it wasn't a secret that Zero had the close-quarters advantage with more melee weapons, techniques, and far more expertise with the Z-Saber. So then the question was what would happen first: X getting in a shot or Zero getting in a slice? The answer lied in who could avoid and counter each other's attacks the most consistently. X was agile, but Zero's was more so. X had projectiles, Zero could avoid or deflect them. X could keep targets at a distance, Zero could close that distance. In possibly my closest call of all time, Zero just had barely enough to land the final blow on X before X could land it on Zero. Trivia: *Most of the music was added after completion. *This was the second time I had the combatants manipulated into fighting each other by a "mysterious force", the first being the Assassin's Creed Battle Royale. *The dual Dark Hold before the start of the battle was primarily there to show that X and Zero could perfectly counter each other's time stops. *I realize in retrospect that I had forgotten to include the Sigma Sword in the battle itself. *The ending was one of my biggest fake-outs, with Zero seemingly killed off-screen upon running into X's legs and buster, then realizing that's all that was left of him. *This Soulcalibur piece after Zero discovered X was dead by his own hand was another one of my favorite music cues. **Especially in tandem with this much more dramatic voicing of his "What am I fighting for?" line. Season 2 Polls Favorite fighting game-themed battle? Raven (Tekken) vs. Crimson Viper Ryu vs Kazuya Mishima Spinal vs. Cervantes Favorite non-fighting game-themed battle? Batman vs Solid Snake Max Payne vs. Nathan Drake Homer Simpson vs Peter Griffin X vs. Zero Best dialogue? Batman vs Solid Snake Raven (Tekken) vs. Crimson Viper Ryu vs Kazuya Mishima Max Payne vs. Nathan Drake Spinal vs. Cervantes Homer Simpson vs Peter Griffin ''WARNING: ''The following polls contain spoilers towards the outcomes of Season 2's battles. If you haven't read all of the battles, please refrain from going to these polls until you've done so. Spoiler-Free= |-| Spoiler= Favorite victorious Season 2 character? Batman Raven (Tekken) Ryu Max Payne Spinal Peter Griffin Zero Favorite defeated Season 2 character? Solid Snake Crimson Viper Kazuya Mishima Nathan Drake Cervantes Homer Simpson X Best death? Solid Snake (arm broken, neck snaped) Crimson Viper (sliced in two akin to Jack-4) Kazuya Mishima (wings and legs seared by Mu no Ken Hadoken, chest and head shoryukened in half) Nathan Drake (shot in head during simultaneous headshot, fell off cliff into water below) Cervantes (pinned to bottom of the ocean with Spinal's sword, neck snapped telepathically) Homer Simpson (impaled in stomach by medieval battering ram, bottom half falls off) X (cut in half by massive crescent) Season 3 Lookback Punisher vs. Red Hood *'Completion Date: October 25, 2017' *'5,579 words' *'Comments: 14' Non-Spoiler= Now this one took forever to get to. I wrote up a tad part of both their analysis', then gave up on the idea. Upon seeing Ahomeschoolingroudon had adopted it, he and I agreed to a collab which would finally complete it. A building full of bad guys, two violent vigilantes, only one survivor. |-| Spoiler= The Punisher's notorious for his stupidly high pain tolerance, as well as being able to take on foes out of his league that he really shouldn't be able to. As such, he definitely proved to be more than just a simple human opponent to Red Hood... but he wasn't counting on someone with Red Hood's agility, weaponry, and fighting style. Sure, Punisher's shot Spidey's webs here and there, but nowhere near consistently enough to tag him. Red Hood has avoided shots from multiple shooters at once. As for weaponry, yes, Punisher could find the best military-grade weaponry he get his hands on, but Red Hood's gear is nearly on par with Batman's and his helmet could survive all of Frank's weapons save for adamantium-tipped bullets... if he could land his shots. For sure, Punisher's military training helped a ton up close, but Red Hood had the far greater expertise and range of martial arts to draw upon. In short, Punisher had the experience, but Red Hood had everything else he needed to put down Frank Castle. Trivia: *Ahomeschoolingroudon provided the music for the character sections, results, and a majority of the fight. **My only musical contributions were the two Anarchy Reigns tracks. *This has my 2nd longest pre-fight out of all my battles, surpassing Max Payne vs. Nathan Drake and only surpassed by my series finale. *While Punisher refers to his opponent as "Hood", Red Hood never refers to Punisher by his name or any nickname of his, instead referring to him as Crossbones and White Skull. *Red Hood's "Awful close. Afraid you'll miss?" was ripped from the Batman: Under the Red Hood animated movie. *Punisher having his ear shot off and Red Hood losing three of his fingers was one of the more gruesome events I had written. *Red Hood sliding between Punisher's legs, then kicking him behind his knees was taken from Daredevil doing the same to Kingpin in his movie. *Punisher had the most hardcore death out of any combatant I had before, primarily because I knew his pain tolerance would need to be shown going to the furthest brink. **I also partially drew inspiration from Batman VS Captain America's death by wondering "What if it was even messier?" Cyrax vs. Fulgore *'Completion Date: November 11, 2017' *'4,342 words' *'Comments: 1 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= I had created the page in August of 2014 and even wrote out Cyrax's section just a few days afterward, but then never got around to working on the rest of it. Instead, I left it, waiting for someone to adopt and finish it, which Big the cat 10 did in 2016. Even then, I couldn't help but suddenly become filled with the resolve to actually do my own take on it. If I had worked on it all those years ago, I had to write out a battle for it. And with Big's permission, my version was a go and put out in 2017. The logical sequel to Fulgore VS Sektor: the Lin Kuei cyborg's closest comrade taking on the UltraTech beast that had slew his ally. |-| Spoiler= This wasn't quite the same animal as Fulgore VS Sektor: Cyrax not only had a more versatile teleport ability than his predecessor, but also more hidden weaponry, and even some sure-fire ways of killing his opponent almost instantly if pulled off. He was also both more agile and even heavier than his 500 pound opponent, a combo that definitely made things more difficult for the UltraTech weapon. Finally, he had a human mind, one not warped like Sektor's, and one that could come up with intelligent decisions and strategies against such a cybernetic foe. In spite of all that, he didn't have a means to survive Fulgore's onslaught before he could land the killing blow. His saws and even his pulse blade needed time to cut into Fulgore's steel body, his Internal Grinder fatality could definitely cut down Fulgore, but needed to land perfectly to prevent escape or interruption, and Self-Destruct would mean the end for Cyrax by default even if he killed Fulgore... if the machine let him. Aside from likely having the scanning capabilities to detect his opponent's technique, Fulgore's human mind could very well override any orders to the contrary and get away before it could successfully destroy him entirely. Speaking of his human mind, the mind of Eagle combined with Fulgore's arsenal has been a match for nearly all the Killer Instinct regulars save for the big bosses and the brother-sister duo while Cyrax rarely had much success as a cyborg against even the middle-tier of the Mortal Kombat universe. Add to that the quad-plasma claws striking with an intense heat hotter than anything Cyrax has ever survived and UltraTech's masterpiece was able to score another kill against the cyber-Lin Kuei. Trivia: *Like Batman vs Solid Snake, I had the story tied to Fulgore VS Sektor, with Sonya and Jax referencing Sektor's death. *While some of Cyrax's newer moves were included, the Cyrax used was primarily based on his person from the original Mortal Kombat timeline, where he had become an Outworld Investigation Agency member. *Despite his reactor from the most recent Killer Instinct, the Fulgore that encountered Cyrax and his mission objective are based on his Killer Instinct 2 self, who was supposed to travel 2,000 years in the past and with killing Jago as his primary mission. *Cyrax saying "Kombat time" was a nod to his OIA comrade Sonya, and a way to demonstrate his comradery with her and Jax. *The two cyborgs standing in place while boxing before headbutting each other simultaneously was taken from the same occurring between Jack Cayman and the Black Baron in MadWorld. *This was the second time I had used "Counter Breaker", the first being Sub-Zero vs. Glacius. *As was pointed out in the comments, Fulgore sparing Cyrax "fudged up the rules a bit", but this was primarily done to get the sacrifice-play ending from Cyrax. *Cinder makes a cameo appearance after Cyrax's self-destruct, finding Cyrax and Fulgore's remains, as well as confirming the latter's survival. *Fulgore was probably the combatant who has come the closest to dying out of any of my battles, with him being reduced to only a head and torso, and having to be retrieved by Cinder. *Cyrax had the most tragic ending of any combatant of mine, as his self-destruct not only failed to stop his opponent, but his brain was revived by UltraTech and his mind was placed into a new Fulgore-esque unit. *This was the first time I created and used "Board of Wizdom" pictures, which were to illustrate the difference in temperature between Fulgore's quad plasma claws and molten lava. Kratos VS Guts *'Completion Date: February 4, 2018' *'4,368 words' *'Comments: 6 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= I had wanted to use Kratos for some time, but never got around to it in either my first or second season. By the time I decided on this match-up, I knew I was no expert with Guts or Berzerk and needed assistance to do this match justice. Thankfully, Big the cat 10 stepped up to write up Guts' section and give me everything I needed on him to make a decision. Two absolutely brutal men, each having gone through absolute hell and back, performing feats considered practically impossible, and willing to cut down anyone who stands in their way. The wielder of the Dragonslayer and the Slayer of Gods. |-| Spoiler= Guts was by far the toughest human Kratos has ever faced, and the sheer cutting power of his Dragonslayer while in his Berserker armor was more than capable of killing Kratos if given the chance to do so. In fact, his Berserker armor nearly outpaced Kratos in most categories, including speed and especially durability, meaning Kratos couldn't just stab him really hard and hope that'd kill him. But Kratos is not a neanderthal; he's a man who has not only defeated foes with brute force and cutting ability, but also by figuring out strategies and finding openings in mid-battle. If Kratos' blows and cuts weren't doing the trick due to Guts' "healing factor", he'd try something else, be it beheading him, tearing off his limbs, or cutting him in half to counter it. Outside the Berserker armor, Guts would absolutely be smart enough to try getting around the Golden Fleece or his other defenses, but at the same time, he'd also be at a greater risk of taking damage for the sake of dealing it, something Kratos could definitely take advantage of due to better base stats and far superior physical strength. As for Berserker armor, he gained what he needed to stand a chance, but lost his tactics while Kratos always had his. Guts was beyond impressive as far as human adversaries go, but the demi-god was beyond anything the Dragonslayer had ever faced. Trivia: *After posting it, I realized I had misspelled Sparta as "Sparda" for nearly the entirety of the battle, and corrected it soon after. **Guess it was me getting ready for Dante vs. DmC Dante. *I made two references towards Wolverine VS Raiden: **Kratos leaping off of a temple onto a Minotaur Guts was about to dispatch, killing it himself before the two refuse to stand aside (akin to Wolverine destroying the Gekko Raiden was about to combat, then the two ready to face one another) **Kratos stabbing Guts with both blades, then watching Guts go into his Berserker armor before being headbutted away from him (akin to Raiden going Ripper and headbutting Wolverine upon being stabbed). *Much of Kratos' in-battle dialogue and moves were ripped from his lines and moves from Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny: **Kratos swinging one blade after the other, then both at once while saying "To your knees!" (triangle, triangle, triangle combo) **Kratos grabbing his opponent by the back of their head, slamming them into the ground face-first twice, then shouting "Now die!" before slamming them a third time. (side throw) **Kratos channeling the Blade of Olympus' power, then slamming it downward while saying "Your end begins!" (near the end of his Critical Finish) *Kratos gripping Guts' metal arm before being headbutted by Guts, then headbutting him back with greater force was taken from the scene with Iron Man and Thor doing that to each other in Avengers. *Kratos lunging at Guts with the Blade of Olympus while shouting "Hades awaits!" was taken from his Level 1 Super from PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. *Kratos standing in pain after the Rage of Sparta expired while saying "By the gods..." was partially inspired by Vergil after he survived Sephiroth's Supernova attack in Sephiroth VS Vergil. *While unintended, Guts repeatedly slamming the Dragonslayer's handle into Kratos' face definitely bears some resemblance to the T-100 doing the same to the T-850 with a steel beam in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. *Kratos getting his foot stomped and losing toe nails, as well losing his right eye were two of the more gruesome acts I had written occurring to a combatant. *Guts' death was primarily done the way it was with him getting cut in half to demonstrate that Kratos had the capacity to do so, in this case with Guts' own weapon. *This was the first time I used a gif in the results, a Simpsons gif of Mr. Burns trying and failing to step on an ant before being tipped over, to make the point of Kratos stopping himself from being crushed by Titans. *This was one of the first times I had a double pun since Liu Kang vs. Ryu, with Kratos going "Berzerk" and spilling "Guts". Dante (Devil May Cry) vs. Dante (DmC: Devil May Cry) *'Completion Date: April 28, 2018' *'Words: 5,431' *'Comments: 2 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= For so long, I had hoped no one would ever make this match-up a thing. For the longest time, I had convinced myself not to even think of attempting it. But it dawned on me: I had to write this one, if only to offer how I thought an interaction between the two would actually go. With DemonsAnarchy's permission to do my own take on it, I went to work trying to do justice to both Dante's, as well as offering a collision of worlds between Devil May Cry and DmC. |-| Spoiler= For any Devil May Cry fan, it was honestly no contest: one character had four games, a manga, and an anime, and the other guy had just one to go off of. Case closed. Done. Okay, I won't be that brief, but I went in knowing the victor from the very beginning, but also saw one trait DmC Dante had that could actually trip up Dante Classic: his own Devil Trigger. Without an angel half to keep him unaffected, the original Dante could find himself trapped in place by the special ability... though obviously not nearly long enough for DmC Dante to get a kill. Yeah, in regards to strength, speed, durability (ESPECIALLY pain resistance), and durability, Dante took it against his DmC counterpart... but not before his off-world self gave him one hell of a run for his money, earning his respect and creating a friendship between them after the fact. Trivia: *The plan from the very beginning was to have it in the DmC world, if mainly to see the original Dante's reaction to and interaction with Limbo. *This had my fourth-longest pre-fight, primarily due to the two Dante's battling other demons before each other. *The bouncer standing in Dante's way before panicking at the memory of DmC Dante punching him was a gag done to illustrate the two Dante's being similar. *I considered having a Neo VS Agent Smith-esque gunfight where the two would redirect each other's fire before their guns aimed at each other's heads turned out to be empty, but decided against it. *Kat and Trish's inclusion was somewhat late into the game, as I thought it'd be neat to further crossover their two worlds with their two most trusted allies reacting to the battle. *Dante taking on a red aura instead of transforming his appearance was taken from his Devil Trigger form in the last episode of the Devil May Cry anime. *Dante grabbing DmC Dante by the throat and stating "You're the one whose out of his depth, you emo fuck!" was a rip on Dante doing the same to a demonic guard in an episode of the Devil May Cry anime, in that instance telling the guard "You're the one who looks delicious, you pudgy fuck." *DmC Dante telling the original Dante that it was okay when he (Dante classic) swore was a knock on the criticism of DmC Dante swearing too much whereas in the past, Dante had sworn on a few occasions without any negative response attached to them. *Towards the end of the battle, I originally planned for DmC Dante to impale Dante with his Rebellion while in Devil Trigger, then gaining his permanent white hair like at the end of DmC: Devil May Cry, but I instead went with the unarmed combat finish. *DmC Dante standing up bloodied after his beating and putting his fists up while saying "I can do this all day" was taken from Captain America stating the same line in Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: Civil War. *This was the first and only time I ever decided not to kill either combatant in any of my Death Battle's. *While I had at one point considered having Dante kill DmC Dante by impaling him in the head with his own Rebellion, then lamenting at his fallen opponent's untapped potential, I eventually decided that in spite of Death Battle rules of removing killing restraint, Dante would most likely spare his DmC counterpart's life to learn more about him and see him grow. **This was also why I didn't have either reveal their name during combat, as I truly believed if they did so that there'd be no battle and the two would befriend each other. **This came to a head at the very ending, where Dante and Trish realized both Dante and his DmC counterpart shared the same name, and Dante chuckling before stating "Huh. Small world." *The extended post-fight was the first and only time I had a combatant saving their opponent from a third party, in this case Dante saving DmC Dante from a Hunter. Pan vs. Supergirl *'Completion Date: July 16, 2018' *'Words: 10,946' *'Comments: 6' Non-Spoiler= No exaggeration: I had wanted to do this one since the end of 2015. I had it all planned out in my head and the only thing I was waiting on were images for the battle that I had commissioned for... But unfortunately, the person I commissioned to ran into some seriously bad times, delaying it further and further. Upon realizing I had the ability to take screenshots with the PS4 and with a copy of Xenoverse 2 on hand, I decided... ...and finally announced Supergirl's mystery opponent, as well as typed down what I had intended to be my longest and most storied battle yet. It wasn't going to be easy: I had to write out a story for an OC interpretation of the Dragon Ball character Pan, as well as find a bare minimum to her capabilities, then do the same for her opponent Supergirl, who most would scale to her cousin Superman. Not just that, but I was doing this as my tribute, a love letter, to not only Goku VS Superman, but to Death Battle itself. I hope I accomplished that, but that is up to you, the reader. |-| Spoiler= Whether or not anyone liked what I did with this take of Pan, I wrote, created, and tossed this character into a battle... one where she would undoubtedly lose. An epic battle between Pan and Supergirl, the Time Patrol, Trunks, and even Goku and Superman... but still an inevitable outcome. The easy way to answer it was obviously "Superman beats Goku, so Supergirl should beat Pan", but I wanted to explain it in far more detail. A feat that was all the more difficult due to not knowing the weight of a Great Ape or how most of Supergirl's best feats didn't have the best measurements attended to them aside from "Just compare her to Superman". But with assistance from SuperSaiyan2Link and Friendlysociopath in determining the Great Ape's size and weight, as well as Big the cat 10 in providing me a Supergirl blog to draw information from, I could explain such a simple outcome well. And before the post-match pun, I wanted to state something that I feel casual Death Battle viewers never truly consider: that a character losing or even being 2nd to their opponent does not make them in any way weak or somehow lowers their value as a character. And while admittedly, it could be viewed as me trying to lessen the blow on my OC Pan, I still stand by the virtue intended in regards to Death Battle itself that a character losing shouldn't matter or be treated like a big deal because Death Battle itself IS NOT a big deal. Versus battles should be for fun, the spectacle of characters who have never met crossing over, not to "shut up a fanbase" or to "prove who was right all along". And with that, I don't know what else to say. Hopefully you'll have something to add to that. Trivia: *This was the first time I had ever had an OC (though one based on an existing character) pit against an existing character. *This was actually intended to be after X vs. Zero, but delays combined with finding a few more battles I wanted to do led to it being at the end of my Mini-Season 3. *As this was going to be my last fanon Death Battle, I had Wizard and Boomstick treat it like their final Death Battle as well, down to the two even switching roles during several moments: **Boomstick saying "and it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle" during the interlude instead of Wizard. **Boomstick saying "The combatants are set..." and Wizard shouting "It's time for a DEATH BATTLE!" during the intermission instead of the other way around. **Wizard saying the post-match pun and Boomstick saying the winner in the results. *Two of my favorite characters analysis jokes were made in Pan and Supergirl's sections: **Boomstick pointing out all the various Trunks' across the entire Dragon Ball series before ending up with the original Future Trunks. **Boomstick singing "♫Like fire, dark fire, now Wizard, it's your turn.♫" akin to The Hunchback of Notre Dame's "Hellfire" song. *In the intro of the battle, I had the "mysterious figures" looking over three battles, which were Lloyd Irving vs. Kirito, Guile VS The Soldier, and Zero VS Meta Knight. This was done as tributes to Fedora Lord Para 348, AgentHoxton, and Chesknight. **Chesknight's Katara VS Juvia Lockser in particular was a huge inspiration for the battle, especially its tragic circumstances and ending. *From the start, I had planned on Pan fighting Supergirl due to a distortion in time being afflicted to a scroll of eternity where Goku VS Superman 2 and various Death Battle's took place. **It may be the unofficial Death Battle Scroll of Eternity. *This is by far the most involved story of any Death Battle, as Pan is going in to prevent a change to Goku VS Superman 2, Supergirl encounters Pan, then the two travel to Toki Toki City and back to Earth in a canyon where they encounter three Death Battle's in progress, then Goku's Super Saiyan Blue infused with Kaio-Ken causes rifts in three additional Death Battle's. *Supergirl questioning Superman about why the Earth disappeared for a moment before reappearing is in reference to the Earth's destruction in Goku VS Superman 1, as well as its revival at the start of Goku VS Superman 2. *I had planned for Metropolis to be the starting battleground as a reference to Goku VS Superman 1. *I made several references towards Man of Steel: **Supergirl's comment about "Maybe I should have blocked that" after she avoided a ki projectile which destroyed a building was a reference to Superman avoiding a tanker truck, which exploded and damaged a parking garage. **Supergirl brawling with Pan in a restaurant, dodging her blows, then slamming her into a booth before tossing her out was a reference to Faora doing the same to Superman in an Ihop. **Pan punching Supergirl forward, flying after her, and repeating two more times was a reference to Superman doing the same to Zod in Metropolis in Man of Steel, as well as to Doomsday in space in Batman v Superman. **Supergirl looking forward while caught in Pan's Kamehameha, raising her fist, then flying forward and roaring was taken from Superman doing the same against the Change Engine while caught in its vortex. *The building under construction that Pan was knocked into was intended to be the same gun shop that the Terminator damaged in Terminator VS RoboCop, but upon re-reading, it didn't really fit as well as I had hoped due to that gun shop being in Delta City, so I instead made another reference to Goku VS Superman by having it be a LexCorp building under construction. *Trunks getting his arm broken by Supergirl was a reference towards Vegeta getting his arm broken by Android 18 in Dragon Ball Z. *I had Pan and Supergirl interact directly with not only Goku VS Superman 2, but also Pokemon VS Digimon and Power Rangers VS Voltron, making it the most battles interacted with. **When Goku combined Super Saiyan Blue with Kaio-Ken in his last stand against Superman, his transformation's sheer power interacted with Yang VS Tifa, Meta VS Carolina, and Balrog VS TJ Combo. *Superman's remark about being fine as long as Pan and Goku don't pull out any more hairstyles was in reference to the reoccurring joke in Goku VS Superman 1 about Goku's transformations. *Supergirl stepping forward while unleashing a massive heat vision beam was done as a reference to her special ability from Injustice 2, as well as me imagining it far larger. *The mysterious figures manipulating Pan and Supergirl into fighting to the death was the third time they'd force combatants to kill each other, the first being the Assassin's Creed Battle Royale and the second being X vs. Zero. *While I had intended for Goku to use Super Saiyan Blue infused with Kaio-Ken, I didn't intend to use Ultra Instinct as I felt the Goku at that time (before the Tournament of Power) wouldn't have had a way to access it. *I had intended to use The Mother of All Battles for the final round as a reference to Goku VS Superman 1's trailer. *BakaLord helped me with music choices, particularly the RWBY song for when Pan and Supergirl were about to fight to the death and Voltron, Tai, and Agumon were starting to lose their battles they were supposed to win. *Much of Pan's dialogue was actually taken from Xenoverse 2: **''"I can still... stand... I won't... lose..."'' and "I can... I can still..." when KO'ed as an opponent. **''"Just... please win..."'' when KO'ed with Super Saiyan 4 Goku as a teammate. **''"Grandpa is... Grandpa is...!"'' when Super Saiyan 4 Goku is KO'ed in her presence. ***Goku replying "I'm sorry, Pan." is stated afterward by SS4 Goku in-game. **''"Grandpa... Everyone... I'm sorry..."'' when KO'ed as a teammate to the player character. *This definitely has my most tragic ending to date, with Supergirl realizing she had been manipulated into killing Pan, Superman realizing both of their battles went too far, and Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time learning of Pan's death in order to preserve time. *At the very end, Boomstick spills the beans of the mysterious figure's identities, which were himself and Wizard. *No surprise, at 10,000+ words, this is my longest Death Battle to date, nearly double the length of Vergil vs. Sesshomaru's remastered battle. **It also had my longest pre-fight. **This has my second-longest post-fight, beaten only by Vergil vs. Sesshomaru's remastering. *This had the largest results out of any of my battles, mainly to copy Goku VS Superman 1's measurements of strength, speed, and durability, and comparison at the end. *This was the second time I had used Board of Wizdom images, mainly to showcase a Great Ape's weight, as well as for Pan's strength and speed, as well as her stats compared to Supergirl. *This was also the first time I had credits at the end of a battle. Season 3 polls Favorite standard Season 3 battle? Punisher vs. Red Hood Cyrax vs. Fulgore Kratos vs. Guts Dante (Devil May Cry) vs. Dante (DmC: Devil May Cry) Best dialogue? Punisher vs. Red Hood Cyrax vs. Fulgore Kratos vs. Guts Dante (Devil May Cry) vs. Dante (DmC: Devil May Cry) Pan vs. Supergirl ''WARNING: ''The following polls contain spoilers towards the outcomes of Season 3's battles. If you haven't read all of the battles, please refrain from going to these polls until you've done so. Spoiler-Free= |-| Spoiler= Favorite victorious Season 3 combatant? Red Hood Fulgore Kratos Dante Supergirl Favorite defeated Season 3 combatant? Punisher Cyrax Guts DmC Dante Pan (Nkstjoa) Best death? Punisher (eyes impaled by glass, throat slit, electrocuted, decapitated by grappling hook) Cyrax (cut in half, self-destructed) Guts (arm torn off, split in two down the middle) Pan (pierced by Supergirl's fists, pushed into the sun, burned away akin to Bardock) Final, Final Finale Thanos (MCU) vs Steppenwolf (DCEU) *'Completion Date: October 15, 2018' *'3,001 words (the battle alone)' **+586 words (alternate ending) **+1,954 words (epilogue) *'Comments: (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= I swear me posting that gif of Thanos putting on the gauntlet was never intentional, yet there I was, writing out a battle with Thanos three months later. Gogopoweranger123's match between the MCU iteration of Thanos and the DCEU version of Steppenwolf intrigued me enough for me to make a thumbnail for it, but perhaps two months after my series finale, the match-up began to grow on me... and I wanted to make my take on it. Despite both villains emerging at opposite times of their franchises (Thanos after the Avengers have been assembled since 2012 and Steppewolf for the very first time the Justice League met on the big screen), both cinematic versions of these characters actually have much in common: both knowing what it's like to lose, on quests to acquire a set of legendary items, and are such huge threats that even the teams brought together to face them weren't enough to win the day. Aside from loving the opportunity to write for the MCU Thanos, I have a bit of a soft spot for the DCEU Steppenwolf and wanted to showcase that he is the farthest from a pushover antagonist. After the stage was set for this Thanos' intrusion of the DCEU, I went to work on my tribute to both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. |-| Spoiler= Yes, the outcome wasn't difficult to figure out at all. Yes, even without the stones, Thanos would still best Steppenwolf in close-quarters combat. Yes, Endgame being included would make things even worse for Steppenwolf... But no, Steppenwolf is far from a weakling. I perceive him as being more than capable of wielding the stones if he could get his hands on them and taking hits from Thanos. This bout was ultimately far from in his favor, but I saw Justice League's antagonist forcing Thanos to earn his victory at the very least. Trivia: * * Final, Final, FINAL Finale Cole MacGrath VS Alex Mercer *'Completion Date: June 9, 2019' *'Words: 4,103' *'Comments: 5 (after my version's completion)' Non-Spoiler= Work In Progress |-| Spoiler= Work In Progress Trivia: * * Bonus Battles Cruch VS Cyborg E. *'Completion Date: February 17, 2017' *'Words: 1,929' *'Comments: 0' Non-Spoiler= I had always wanted to add an OC to the Wiki and long before I came up with the concept of Pan as Xenoverse 1's Time Patroller, I had an original Sonic character I made up in my youth... whose name I completely forgot, no joke. Thanks to Windindi, who not only gave him a name with Cyborg E., but also offered him an opponent with a Mega Man OC of his own named Cruch, I was able to give Cyborg E. one completed battle to his name. An echidna-turned-cyborg against a helper robot-turned-Robot Master. |-| Spoiler= I kept my OC's limiations set in stone so as not to give him an intentional advantage and the way I saw it, Cyborg E. definitely had Cruch beat in speed, durability, and possibly even strength. That was all for naught due to Cyborg E. having a very ineffective strategy when pit against Cruch having a more tactical mind and refined fighting style, allowing him to take advantage of his opponent's stubbornness and over-reliance on his metal skin's durability. This over-reliance would prove to be fatal to Cyborg E. once Cruch went into his ultimate form, where his blades had the sufficient cutting power to actually damage and even cut through him. So in the end, while Cyborg E. was certainly strong, fast, and tough enough to put down Cruch, Cruch's intelligence, defense, and cutting power won the bout. No regrets here. Windindi just had the more capable OC, one who could win fights for the heroes instead of only assisting at most. Trivia: *I took a lot of inspiration from Mega Man VS Astro Boy, even going as far as having the song be one from the same game series as the song used in Death Battle. **I also had Cruch and Cyborg E. clashing in midair similar to Mega Man and Astro Boy upon the former gaining their ultimate forms. *Cruch stopping the thrown bus and Cyborg E. going through it to attack him was inspired by Doomsday performing a similar feat against the Hulk in their Death Battle. *Cyborg E.'s Superman-esque flying pose taken when colliding with Cruch at the end of the battle was inspired by Wolverine performing a similar pose when crashing into a Sentinel in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine video game. *This was the first time I had ended a battle with a combatant being cut in half vertically, though this would be repeated in Kratos VS Guts. Vergil vs. Sesshomaru Remastered *'Completion Date: April 24, 2017' *'Words: 6,691' *'Comments: 9 (since remastering)' Non-Spoiler= Whether you've known me since 2014 or even if you've just met me, it's not easy to forget that this is by far my most wanted Death Battle by far. Not just that, but also the second battle I ever completed, just a month after Scorpion vs. Ryu. As I wrapped up my 2nd season, I looked back at it and realized that with how much I had improved since my first year writing here that I could do so much better with it. A better analysis, an expanded explanation in the results, and most of all, an even more titanic battle. With no new season to worry about (at least until later that year with Mini-Season 3), I went to work on making what I may consider my absolute best fanon Death Battle writing effort. |-| Spoiler= I could make the analysis and results longer, have music throughout its entirety, and make the battle as long and epic as I wanted, but the real test was justifying the outcome I had held for years. Looking back at the original's results, I knew its reasoning could've been so much better and lacked some of the points others had inquired about. Here, I had to bring my A-game. Yes, it was a battle determined by one-shots, and one where I personally felt a blade that could decompose organic material with a single successful cut was more likely to kill Vergil than a super-precise cut from Yamato was going to kill Sesshomaru. I knew Vergil could move quickly, teleport, and attack from afar, but with Sesshomaru's sense of smell on his side, he could prevent his adversary from getting the drop on him or landing a surprise fatal blow. And while I felt Devil Trigger could heal from a wound inflicted by Bakusaiga, Devil Trigger eventually runs outs and anything inflicted or left after the fact meant Vergil would fade away without any remaining Devil Trigger to act as a Get Out of Jail Free card. I know that this one'll never be 100% agreed with and I absolutely respect the perspectives of those who feel Vergil would kill Sesshomaru. I just gave it my all and that's all any writer can do. Trivia: *This was my first and only remastering of any of my battles. *This was the first time I had music throughout the entirety of the page, from the interlude all the way to the results. *Since I had referenced InuYasha's intro card slate in the original, I felt it was fair to also reference Devil May Cry's level title screen in regards to Vergil. *Sesshomaru striking Vergil twice with his fists, catching him by the neck, and punching him farther away was taken from Lord Slug doing the same to Goku in the Lord Slug movie. *The two monks running away from Sesshomaru while offering to let Vergil stay for the night if they slew Sesshomaru is in reference to the running gag in InuYasha of the group staying the night at places in return for slaying demons. *The final arena was changed from the original, taking place in a temple's courtyard under the rain instead of in a large dark room underneath a church. *Vergil unleashing a flurry of summoned swords and Sesshomaru rapidly slashing them was inspired by Sora and Riku deflecting a flurry of laser projectiles from Kingdom Hearts 2. *Vergil's death was inspired by Voldemort's death in Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2, right down to the music choice. *The main change done to the ending was to have Sesshomaru appear dead with Rin and Jaken discovering his body in a puddle of rainwater and blood as a result of his battle with Vergil. **Primarily, this was because I was always disappointed with Sesshomaru just walking home to Rin in the original, seemingly less the worse for wear. Here, I wanted to emphasize just how close Sesshomaru was to death while showing Rin and Jaken in utter shock at his state. *This has the longest post-fight out of all of my battles, even exceeding my series finale's. *Up until my series finale, this had by far my longest results. Zax vs Pan (Nkstjoa) *'Completion Date: September 1st, 2019' *'Words: 3,136' *'Comments: 9 (prior to completion)' Non-Spoiler= Work In Progress |-| Spoiler= Work In Progress Trivia: * And that's all I've got for you right now. Stayed tuned. Category:Blog posts